GRIIO 
J66 


Jones 


Folk-lore  in  Michigan 


Collection  of  aimerican  literature 


JSequeatfjeb  to 


Zf)e  ILihvatp  of  tJje  Wi 
iSortf)  Carol 


"He  gave  back  as  rain 
received  as  m 


3e  s 


SOOK   CARD 

^'^^^^  ;jeep   this   card  ,n 
^oo'<  pocket 


^■•^i^.w^^f, 


BR 


^Mmi 


Mm 


a:: 


*;;  V-  ■ 


^'t 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


GRllO 

J66 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00021758466 


1 


Folk-Lore  in  Michigan 

(Reprint  from  Kalamazoo  Normai  Record,    May,  1914, 

Western  State  Normal  School,  Kalamazoo,  Michigan.)  <--    / 


E  sometimes  hear  the  remark 
that  Michigan,  as  compared 
with  states  such  as  Massachu- 
setts, Kentucky,  or  Virginia, 
is  either  lacking  in  or  disinterested  in 
legend  and  tradition.  This  I  believe 
not  to  be  so.  I  should  prefer  to  say- 
that  Michigan  has  her  stories  and  her 
songs,  but  that  many  of  her  people, 
nay,  most  of  her  people,  are  not  con- 
scious of  the  wealth  of  folk-lore  with- 
in the  bounds  of  their  native  state. 

Between  the  years  1882  and  1894 
Professor  Francis  J.  Child,  of  Harvard 
University,  issued  in  nine  parts  (a 
tenth  part  was  issued  after  his  death) 
the  greatest  single  compilation  of  folk- 
song that  has  ever  been  the  work  of 
any  one  English-speaking  editor. 
This  great  collection  contains  a  total 
of  over  twelve  hundred  versions  of 
three  hundred  and  five  distinct  bal- 
lads. While  Professor  Child  was  but 
twelve  years  in  issuing  his  collection, 
he  was  actually  engaged  in  the  work 
of  collecting  and  editing  it  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  His  sources  were 
confined  to  three  fields:  (i)  original 
manuscripts  deposited  in  American 
and  European  libraries,  museums,  and 
universities;  (2)  original  manuscripts 
in  the  hands  of  private  individuals; 
(3)  printed  collections  derived  from 
manuscripts,  some  that  were  and  still 
are  extant,  many  that  are  lost.  Manu- 
scripts, then,  and  printed  books  were 
Professor  Child's  principal  sources. 
At  his  death  he  felt  confident  that  he 
had  unearthed  every  important 
extant  manuscript,  with  perhaps  one 
exception.  We  have  his  finished  work 
in  five  large  volumes  (Parts  I.-X.)* 
This  is  the  richest  legacy  of  its  kind 

*Houghton,    Mifflin    &    Co.,    Boston,    1882-1894. 


that  any  American  or  English  scholar 
has  ever  left  to  Anglo-Saxon  peoples. 

But  Professor  Child's  work  was 
only  the  beginning  of  what  he  would 
have  liked  to  see  supplemented  by  a 
still  greater  work — the  ingathering  of 
English  folk-songs  treasured  away  in 
the  minds  of  our  people  and  perpetu- 
ated by  oral  communication.  This 
Professor  Child  did  not  live  to  see 
even  in  modest  beginnings.  Living 
songs  came  in  slowly,  or  almost  not 
at  all,  in  response  to  his  call  for  them. 
In  this  respccL  he  'ed  a  disappointed 
man.  But,  as  has  en  been  the  case 
in  the  life  work  Oi  '<*eat  men  in  other 
fields,  so  it  has  ^  ved  to  be  in  that 
of  Mr.  Child.  Gradually  has  the  in- 
fluence of  his  long  endeavor  been  ex- 
erting itself  in  the  United  States. 
Many  states  have  their  ballad  or  folk- 
lore societies.  The  Journal  of  the 
American  Folk-Lore  Society "  is  in 
its  twenty-sixth  or  twenty-seventh 
year.  Many  of  our  great  universities 
are  putting  some  of  their  best  men 
into  fellowships  solely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  collecting  our  native  songs; 
private  individuals  are  spending  money 
and  devoting  much  time  to  the  same 
end.  All  this  is  but  the  beginning  of 
the  realization  of  Mr.  Child's  dream 
of  what  might  be  done. 

At  the  present  time  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education,  through 
the  leadership  of  Professor  Alphonso 
C.  Smith  of  Virginia,  is  stimulating, 
on  the  broadest  scale  yet  attempted,  a 
nation-wide  campaign  to  accomplish 
this  one  definite  thing:  a  complete 
collection  of  all  existing  American 
versions  of  all  the  English  and  Scot- 
tish   popular   ballads    in    Mr.    Child's 


great  collection.  This  brings  me  to 
the  point  and  purpose  of  the  present 
paper.  Through  the  co-operation  of 
teachers  and  students  in  the  schools 
of  Michigan;  through  the  co-opera- 
tion of  woman's  societies  and  feder- 
ations; through  the  co-operation  of 
private  individuals,  no  matter  who,  in- 
terested in  the  preservation  of  folk- 
lore in  Michigan — ^through  all  these 
and  any  other  agency  or  agencies,  I 
am  anxious  to  collect  and  preserve  to 
our  posterity  what  I  regard  as  a 
priceless  heritage.  Such  a  work  is 
being  done  by  Mr.  Phillips  Barry  of 
Boston  for  Massachusetts  and  other 
New  England  states ;  Professor  Bel- 
den  is  doing  the  same  in  Missouri  and 
its  neighboring  states ;  Professor  H. 
G.  Shearin,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
has  printed  a  syllabus  of  some  370  or 
more  pieces  of  genuine  folk-stufif; 
Professor  John  Lomax  of  Harvard, 
now  president  of  the  American  Folk- 
Lore  Society,  has  gathered  an  im- 
mense amount  of  folk-material  in  the 
Southwest,  particularly  Texas,  and 
has  embodied  the  best  part  of  it  in 
his  book  Cowboy  Songs  and  at  the 
present  time  he  is  actively  engaged  in 
collecting  negro  songs  in  the  South. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  men  at 
work  in  this  field.  I  am  anxious  to 
see,  in  a  measure  at  least,  the  same 
thing  done  in   Michigan. 

To  a  few  whose  interest  in  this  sub- 
ject may  be  stimulated  for  the  first 
time  the  question  may  arise,  "What 
is  folk-lore?'*  This  is  not  the  place 
for  critical  or  fine-spun  discussion.  To 
me  folk-lore  means  the  literature  and 
the  song  of  the  people  themselves, 
the  music  and  the  literature  which 
grow  up  amongst  us  as  grow  up  the 
brier  rose  and  the  violet,  we  know  not 
how.  They  are  with  us — that  is  suffi- 
cient— and  we  enjoy  them  and  cherish 
them.  By  folk-lore  I  mean  the  verse, 
the  story,  or  the  song,  that  would  still 
be  ours  if  every  printed  book  or  scrap 
of  printed  paper  should  by  some  mi- 
raculous power  be  wiped  out  of  exist- 
ence. I  mean  in  substance  these 
things:  Popular  songs,  and  parodies 
of  printed  songs,   whether  secular  or 


sacred,  that  come  to  us  we  hardly 
know  how;  "tongue-twisters,"  riddles 
in  verse  or  prose,  nonsense  rhymes, 
or  rhymes  in  the  form  of  axioms;  \ 
counting-out  rhymes,  "Mother  Goose" 
rhymes,  and  lullabies  for  children; 
dancing  and  singing  games  of  chil- 
dren; fairy  tales  and  legends;  anony- 
mous songs  popular  in  the  days  of  the 
Civil  wa?;  songs  of  the  "lumber- 
jack;" songs  of  pioneer  or  missionary 
days ;  songs  of  the  emigrant,  whether 
French',  Canadian,  Irish,  Scotch  or 
English,  it  matters  not  which.  All 
these  and  other  unnamed  creations 
like  them  constitute  what  I  mean  by 
folk-lore,  the  literature  and  the  music 
of  the  people. 

That  I  may  not  be  obscure  or  gen- 
eral, I  will  give  parts  or  wholes  of 
some  few  of  the  preceding  types  I 
have  already  been  able  to  collect 
through  the  help  and  kindness  of  stu- 
dents and  friends.*  The  specimens 
will  speak  for  themselves.  To  make 
rough  distinctions  appear  bold,  I  shall 
group   these    specimens   under — 

I.  Rhymes  and  games  of  children. 

II.  "Modern"  popular  songs  and 
parodies,  apparently  American  in  ori- 
gin. 

III.  Songs  of  the  soldier,  the  lum- 
ber-jack, the  emigrant  and  the  negro. 

IV.  American  versions  of  English 
and  Scottish  ballads. 

I.     Rhymes  and  Games  of  Children. 

A.  Counting-Out  Rhymes,  or  "Count- 
Outs." 

1.  Antry,  mentry,  kentry,  corn, 
Apple  seeds  and  apple  thorn; 
Wire,  brier,   limber,  lock, 
Three  geese  in  a  flock; 

One  flew   east,  and   one  flew  west, 
One  flew  over  the  cuckoo's  nest. 
0-u-t   spells   ^'out"— 
Eing  the  old  woman's  dish-cloth  out. 

2.  As  I  went  up  the  apple  tree 
All  the  apples  fell  on  me,  etc. 

3.  Eenie,  meenie,  miny,  moe, 
Catch  a  f eenie  finey  foe; 
Amanoochie,   papatoochie 
Rick,  bick,  ban  do. 


*I  print  most  of  my  texts  in  part,  with  the  simple 
purpose  of  "stirring  up"  unprinted  versions  now  in 
the  minds  of  my  readers.  I  have  not,  however,  been 
able  to  determine  whether  all  my  specimens  are  in 
print   or   not. 


o 


4.     Wang,    wum,    wittle-wnm;    Jack    Strum, 
strittle-strum. 
Wang,  wum,  wittle-wum;  way  goes  Flum, 
etc. 

B.   Game-Rhymes,   Memory  Rhymes,  Etc. 

1.  Here   comes,  here   comes   the   golden  ball 
Under  apron  strings  and  all,  etc. 

(Bouncing  Ball). 

2.  Alligator,    hedgehog,    anteater,   bear. 
Rattlesnake,  frog,  anaconda,  hare;   etc. 

3.  Chickamy,   chickamy,   erany   crow 
Went  to  the  well  to  wash  her  toe; 
When  she  got  back  her  chicken  was  gone. 
What  time  is  it,  old  witch? 

4.  Oranges    andMemons    says    the    bells    of 

St.    Clemens; 
You    owe    me    four    farthings,    says    the 
bells   of   St.   Martins.     Etc. 

C.  Nonsense    Rhymes,    Riddles,    Etc. 

1.  Beefsteak  when  I'm  hungry 
Whiskey  when   I'm    dry; 
Pretty  girls  when  I'm  happy. 
Heaven  when  I   die. 

2.  As  I  was   crossing   London   Bridge, 
I   met  my   sister   Ann. 

I   pulled  off   her  head 
And  drank  her  blood 
And  left  her  body  stand. 

3.  When  I  was  a  little  boy, 
My  mother  kept  me  in; 
Now  I  am  a  big  boy. 
Fit  to  serve  a  king.     Etc. 

4.  I  came  to  a  city,  I  went  to  a  ball, 

I    married    a    rich    widow    with    nothing 

at  all; 
I  was  married  in  June  on  a  hot  summer 

day, 
In  the  middle  of  winter,  the  making  of 

hay. 
Burden — Down,  down,  derry  down,  etc. 

5.  Said  the  man  to  Sandy, 
"Will  you  lend  me  your  mill?" 

"Yes,    I'll    lend    you     my    mill,"     said 

Sandy. 
So   Sandy   lent   the   man   his    mill, 
And    the   man   had   the    loan   of   Sandy's 

mill. 

D.  Lullabies,  Mother  Goose  Rhymes,  Etc. 

1.  Little  birdie  in  the  tree,  little  birdie  in 

the  tree, 
Little    birdie    in    the    tree;    sing    a    song 

to   me. 
Sing  a  song  of  big  ships,  etc. 

2.  Once  there  was  a  little  girl 
Who  had  a  little  curl,  etc. 

3.  Lady  bug,  lady  bug, 

Turn  around; 
Lady  bug,  lady  bug. 

Touch  the  ground.     Etc. 

4.  Rock   a   baby  Bilkin, 
Daddy's  gone  a-silkiu,  etc. 


E.    Singing    and    Dancing    Games    of 
Children. 

1.  Three  little  girls   a-sliding   went 
All  on  one  summer's   day; 

The  ice  so  thin,  they  all  fell  in; 
The  rest  they  ran  away.     Etc. 

2.  The  farmer's  in  the  dell,  the  farmer's  in 

the    dell; 
High  over  glory,  oh,  the  farmer's  in  the 
dell,    etc. 

3.  The  needle's  eye  that  doth  supply 
The  thread  that  runs  so  truly.     Etc. 

4.  Here   comes   the  duke  a-riding,   etc, 

II.     "Popular"   Songs  —   Sentimental 
Songs,    Parodies,    Etc. 

A.  ' '  Oid-Fashioned ' '    Songs. 

1.  Old  Dan  Tucker  was  a  fine  old  man, 

He   washed   his   face   in    the   frying   pan, 
etc. 

2.  Once  I  was  single  and  lived  at  my  ease, 
But  now   I   am   married,   a   husband   for 

to  please. 
Four  children  all  to   maintain — 
Oh,  how  I  wish  I  was  single  again! 

3.  Oh,    where    have    you    been,    Billy    boy, 

Billy  boy? 
Oh,     where     have     you    been,     charming 
Billy?      Etc. 

B.  Sentimental  Songs — Older  Type. 

1.  Down  by   yonder   drooping   willow 
Where    the    gentle   zephyrs   bloom. 
There  sleeps  that  young  Florella 
All  in  her  silent  tomb.     Etc. 

2.  Can  any  one  tell  me  where  my  beau  has 

gone?     Etc. 

3.  'Twas  a  fine  summer  day. 
The    weather    being    fine; 

Mary  stood  by  her  own  cottage  door, 
When  a  beggar  passed  by 
With   a  patch   on  his  eye. 
''Have  pity,"   said  he,  '*on  the  poor," 
etc. 

C.  Parodies. 

1.  We  had  a   friend   by  the  name   of  Billy 

Long; 
He  bought  a  goat  just  for  a  song; 
He  loved  that  goat,  so  well  he  did. 
He  bought  it  for  his  little  kid.     Etc. 

2.  In  the  shade  of  the  old  apple  tree, 

Sat  two  Irishmen,  drunk  as  could  be.  Etc. 

III.     Songs  of  the  Soldier,  the  Lum- 
ber-Jack, the  Pioneer,  and 
the  Negro. 

A.  War  Songs. 

1.     Down  where   the  patriot  army. 
Near  Potomac's  side. 
Guards  the  glorious  cause  of  freedom. 
Gallant  Ellsworth  died.     Etc. 


2.     I  knew  by  the  light  of  his  deep,  dark  eye 
When  he  heard  the  roll  of  the  must 'ring 

drum, 
That  he  never  would  fold  his  arms   and 

sigh 
Over  the  evils  that  were  to  come. 
I  knew  that  the  blood  of  a  patriot  sire 
Coursed  through  his  veins  like  a  stream 

of  fire; 
So  I  took  his  hand  and  I  bade  him  go, 
But    he    never    dreamed    that    it    grieved 

me  so.     Etc. 

B.  Songs  of  the  Lumber  Camp. 

1.  Young  Monroe — the  following  is  a   typi- 

cal stanza: 

'Twas   on   one  Sunday   morning, 

As  you  will  plainly  see; 

The  logs   were   piled   up   mountain   high, 

They  nearly  reached   1>ie  sky. 

The  foreman  said,  "Turn  out,  my  boys, 

With  hearts  devoid  of  fear; 

We'll  break  the  jam  on  Gerry  Eock, 

And  for  Charlietown  we  '11  steer. ' ' 
The   jam   is   broken,   but    Charlie   and   six 
companions   are  drowned — 

There  was   one  headless  body 

A-lying   on    the   beach   below; 

All  cut  and  mangled  in  the  rocks 

Lay  the  head  of  Young  Monroe. 
His    '  *  girl ' '    is    from    * '  Saginaw    town. ' ' 
For  her,  the  raftsmen  take  up  a  collection. 
She   dies   not  long   afterwards    of   a   broken 
heart. 

Her  last  request  was  granted; 

She  was  placed  by  Young  Monroe. 

2.  Come  you  true  and  shanty  boys. 
Wherever  you  may  be,  etc. 

The  story  is  of  Harry  Dunn, 
Who  went  in  to  the  lumber  woods 
And  never  did  return. 
He  is  killed  by  a  limb  which  his  "body 
bored."     Both  his  mother  and  father  die  of 
grief.     The  last  four  lines  run — 

So  come  all  you  true  and  shanty  boys, 
Wherever  you  may   stand; 
If  ever  you  run  short  of  work. 
Keep  clear  of  Michigan. 
Bay    City,    Pinconning,    and    "the    Huron 
shore"   all   figure   in   the   setting. 

3.  I'm  a  heart-broken  raftsman,  etc. 

This  ballad  is  the  lament  of  Jack  Hag- 
gerty  over  the  faithlessness  of  his  sweet- 
heart, Annie. 

Her   cheeks   were   as   fair 
As  the  lily  of  Spain 
Or  the  wings  of  the  sea-gull 
"  That  skims  o'er  the  sea. 
Jack  blames  Annie's  mother,  Jane  Tucker, 
for   the  jilting.     He  finally  says: 

Good-bye  to  the  river,  for  me  there's  no 

rest; 
I   will   shoulder  my   pevie;    I   will   go   to 
the  West. 


I  will  go  to  Muskegon,  some  comfort  to 

find; 
I  will  leave  my  false  love  and  the  river 

behind. 

C.  Songs  of  the  Emigrant.   (I  quote  only 

first  lines). 

1.  Oh,  the  weary  on  you  Johnny. 

2.  Young  Emma  was  a   servant  maid. 
Who  loved  a  sailor  bold. 

3.  "John  Eeily"— 

As  I  roved  out  one  May  morning. 
All  for  to  take  the  sweet  morning  air. 

4.  There    was    a    rich    merchant    in    London 

did  dwell. 

5.  You  tender  maidens  I  pray  draw  near. 
In    most    of    these    a    rich    girl    marries    a 

poor  man  or  sailor,  runs  off  with  him  to  sea, 
etc.     Some   end  happily,  some  unhappily. 

D.  Cowboy  Songs. 

1.  Come    all    ye    Texas    Rangers,    wherever 

you  may  be. 

2.  The  Dying  Cowboy. 

3.  The  Dying  Californian. 

E.  Negro  Airs. 

1.  Did  you   ever  hear   de  hammer  ring   (re- 

peated  thrice). 
When  dey  nailed  poh  Jesus  down? 
Chill 'n  dey  nailed  poh  Jesus  down. 

2.  Heaven  is  a  high  and  loftiest  place; 
You  can't  git  there  if  you  got  no  grace. 
Fare  you  well,  sinner,  fare  you  well.  Etc. 

3.  I   heard   a  noise   in  a  cloud; 
It  sounds  to  me  like  thunder. 

If  that  ain't  my  old  wife  comin'  back. 
It  is  to  me  a  wonder. 

4.  Where  now  is  the  prophet  Daniel? 

(Repeat    thrice). 
Way  over  on  the  other  shore. 
.  He  went  up  from  a  dend  of  lions, 
Safe  on  de  oder  shore. 


IV.     American    Versions    of    English 
and    Scottish   Ballads. 


I  use  the  titles  and  numbers  adopted  by 
Professor  Child.* 

1.     Riddles  Wisely  Expound  (No.  1). 
It  begins — 
What  is  rounder  than  a  ring? 
What  is  deeper  than  the  sea? 
What  is  higher  than   the  sky? 
What  is  worse  than  women  kind? 

*To  the  curious  reader  who  may  desire  to  have 
better  reading  acquaintance  with  Professor  Child's 
famous  collection  ,it  may  be  convenient  to  know  that 
the  best  versions  of  about  three  hundred  are  printed 
in  Ensrlish  and  Scottish  Popular  Ballads,  Cambridge 
Edition  (Boston,  New  York,  Chicago:  Houghton- 
Mifflin  Company,  1904.     Price  $3.00). 


2.  The  Elfin  Knight  (No.  2). 

Where    are    you    going?      I'm    going    to 

Lynn. 
Let  every  rose  grow  merry  in  time,  etc. 
(I   have   two   versions   of   this.) 

3.  False  Lambkin  (No.  93). 
False  Lambkin,  goodly  mason 
As   ever  lay  stone. 

He   built   Lord   Arnold's    castle, 
And  the  Lord  paid  him  none. 

4.  The  Twa  Corbies   (No.  26).   (I  have  sev- 

eral   variations.) 

5.  Lady  Isabel  and  the  Elf -Knight  (No.  4). 
(I  have  three  versions.) 

Go  steal  me  a  portion   of  your  father's 

gold 
And  also  your  mother's  fee. 
And  I  will  take  you  to  old  England 
And  there  my  bride  you'll  be.     Etc. 

6.  Lord  Lovel   (No.  75). 

7.  Our  Goodman  (No.  274). 

Home  comes  the  old  man,  home  comes  he, 
A  stick  in  the  corner  he  chanced  for  to 
see. 

8.  Bonny  Barl)ara  Allan    (No.  84). 
'Twas  in  the  merry  month  of  May 
An'   the   birds  was  sweetly   singin' 
Sweet  William  lay  in  his  dyin'  bed 
For  the  love  of  Barbara  Allen.     Etc. 

9.  Sir   Hugh,   or   the   Jew's   Daughter    (No. 

155.) 

10.  The  Gruel  Mother    (No.   20). 

As  the  version  I  have  is  so  short,  I  submit 
it  in  its  entirety.  It  comes  to  me  from 
South  Carolina  by  way  of  Kentucky.  Here 
it  is: 

I. 

My   dear  little    children,   if   you   were   mine 

All  alone  and  aloney-o, 

I'd  dress  you  up  in  silks  so  fine 

Down  by  the   greenwood  sidey-o. 

II. 

O,  false  mother,  when  we  were  thine, 
All  alone  and  aloney-o. 
You  dressed  us  not  in  silks  so  fine, 
Down  by   the   greenwood   sidey-o. 

III. 

You  buried  us  under  a  marble  slab, 

All  alone   and   aloney-o. 

Think  you  these  deeds  will  ne'er  be  known, 

Down  by  the  greenwood  sidey-o? 

This  last  is  the  type  of  song  that 
Andrew  Lang  must  have  had  in  mind 
when  he  said,  "Ballads  are  a  voice 
from  secret  places,  from  silent  peo- 
ples, and  old  times  long  dead;  and  as 
such  they  stir  us  in  a  strangely  inti- 
mate fashion  to  which  artistic  verse 
can  never  attain." 


It  is  my  purpose,  I  repeat,  to  pre- 
serve as  much  of  this  "voice  from 
secret  places,  from  silent  peoples"  that 
still  lingers  in  the  memories  of  living 
men  and  women  and  children  within 
the  borders  of  our  commonwealth  as 
it  may  be  my  good  fortune  to  collect. 
I  need  offer  no  apology  for  this  effort. 
How  long  it  may  take  to  get  together 
enough  material  to  warrant  an  opinion 
as  to  origins,  distributions,  literary 
values,  cultural  values,  and  the  like, 
I  cannot  say;  it  may  take  a 
decade,  it  may  take  a  genera- 
tion. However  that  may  be,  I  feel 
the  task  is  a  worthy  one.  To  teachers 
it  must  mean  much.  The  days  of  the 
teacher  of  the  type  such  as  Georgie 
Madden  Martin  pictures  in  Emmy  Lou 
are  fast  going  if  not  entirely  gone.  No 
more  "blue"  or  "red"  fairy  books  with 
genuine  folk-material  in  them  will  ever 
be  pitched  in  the  fire ;  but  a  few  teach- 
ers and  many  mothers  need  to  know 
the  superior  value  of  the  folk-child's 
songs  and  games,  of  the  old  ballads  as 
compared  with  the  modern  mongrel 
tales  embodying  wizards  armored  in 
stove-pipes  and  tin-pans.  The  general 
reader,  the  common  man,  should  be 
brought  to  realize  that  what  is  his  in 
folk-song  is  what  has  always  been  the 
greatest  of  inspirations  to  some  of  our 
best  poets.  Allan  Ramsay  did  an  in- 
estimable service  to  humanity  when 
he  published  the  songs  in  his  Ever*- 
green  and  his  Tea-Table  Miscellany, 
songs  that  inspired  some  of  Burns' 
most  touching  lines.  Walter  Scott's 
work  as  a  romanticist  in  both  song 
and  prose  owed  its  earliest  and  its 
continued  inspiration  to  Thomas 
Percy's  Ancient  Reliques  of  English 
and  Scottish  Poetry;  not  to  the  fanci- 
ful artificial  pastorals  of  this  interest- 
ing book,  but  to  the  mangled  and 
"improved"  renderings,  by  the  oblig- 
ing bishop,  of  the  old  ballads  which 
his  ecclesiastical  excellence  found 
"lying  dirty  on  the  floor  under  a 
Bureau  in  ye  Parlour"  of  a  certain 
Humphrey  Pitt  of  Shropshire.  The 
leaves  of  the  old  manuscript  were  be- 
ing used  by  Pitt's  "maids  to  light  the 
fire."  This  is  how  near  Scott  came 
to  losing  the  best  of  the  old  ballads 


that  come  down  to  us  from  five  cen- 
turies and  more.  But  why  need  I 
say  more?  Wordsworth  and  Cole- 
ridge's "Lyrical  Ballads,"  much  of 
Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti's  best  verse, 
many  of  William  Morris's  charming 
tales,  Kipling's  "Seven  Seas,"  and  the 
charm  of  many  another  singer's  best 


song  is  a  beautiful  after -echo  of  the 
joys  and  the  sorrows  of  the  race.  The 
ingathering  of  what  still  remains  of 
these  old  songs  is  a  labor  worthy  of 
the  doing.* 

BERTRAND  L.  JONES, 
Department  of  English. 


*I  shall  be  pleased  to  receive  any  con- 
tributions from  any  individual  or  group  of 
individuals  who  may  be  willing  to  submit 
anything  whatever  that  may  be  suggested 
by  the  selections  which  I  give  above.  If 
any  of  the  following  information  can  be 
added  to  the  material,  such  information  may 
prove  of  great  value: 

1.  From  whom  was  the  piece  obtained? 
When?  Where  did  he  live?  How  old 
was  he?     Where  did  iie  get  it? 

2.  Has  it  ever  been  seen  in  print? 
Where?     When? 

3.  Did  it  have  an  air  (tune)?  Can  the 
air  be  written  down? 


4.  Was  the  piece  accompanied  by  a  game 
or  a  dance?     Can  either  be  described. 

5.  Spell  the  piece  as  it  sounded  at  the 
time  it  was  taken  down. 

6.  Fragments  may  be  of  inestimable 
value  even  when  not  accompanied  by 
any  information.  If  these  questions 
cannot  be  answered,  submit  your  ma- 
terial anyway.  It  will  be  welcomed 
by  the  collector. 

Address  all  material  to  Bertrand  L.  Jones, 
Western  State  Normal  School,  Kalamazoo, 
Michigan. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 
in  2013 


littp://arcliive.org/details/folkloreinmicliigOOjone 


Eomount 
Pamphlet 
Binder 
Gaylord  Eros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


f?^$'Wf&l^^i 


^  '■;  :'''^m'}';^::^^3mim 


